


What's The Point In Buying Candy?

by HoneyBeeez



Series: That's Not The Point!! [3]
Category: How to Train Your Dragon (Movies), Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: ALSO POSTED ON FF, Candy shop!au, M/M, SMOOTH HICCUP, auntie ericka is inspired by my friend who told me to write this, jack's sister is named Flee!, they both fall for each other and its great
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-21
Updated: 2016-02-21
Packaged: 2018-05-22 12:10:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,418
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6078825
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HoneyBeeez/pseuds/HoneyBeeez
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hiccup works at a candy shop. Jack's dragged into it by his little sister to check it. Hiccup's boss get's involved.</p>
            </blockquote>





	What's The Point In Buying Candy?

**Author's Note:**

> Everyone needs a little sweetness in their lives, don't you think?

The candy shop is brightly lit, illuminating the bright pinks and royal blues that color the walls. Streamers swoop delicately above the displays, almost like someone spent an eternity up on a ladder, making sure each streamer was placed just right. Almost every wall was lined with shelves and cabinets, bursting with brightly colored candies and chocolates. The displays in the middle of the shop stood higher than most people, stacked with cute stuffed animals and, once again, with candies of all shapes and sizes.

“Auntie Ericka’s Candy-Palooza” was tacked proudly to the front of the shop, the sign loud and bold enough to entice almost anyone into entering; it was almost as if the store demanded that it was entered, explored and discovered.

Despite the display, Jack never noticed the shop. His little sister, Flee, practically dragged him into the shop one day as they were walking through town.

As Jack complied and pushed the door open, and bell trills melodiously overhead. Everything bombards the two of them at once, the almost-sickly-sweet smell of different candies, the low music playing in the background, sounding as if it belong to a musical more than anything else, and then-

“Hello! Welcome to Auntie Ericka’s!” Someone called out as they oriented themselves. Flee giggles, and skips her away from Jack, scanning the high shelves of all the candied wonders it possessed. Jack, however, looks up to see the source of the voice, and the moment he sees him, he knows he’s in trouble.

Bright green eyes smile at him, framed with longish auburn hair and a plethora of freckles. His nose is round, and his lips are on the thin-side, but you can hardly tell when he’s smiling so widely. The boy, because Jack can’t simply see him as older than himself, looks absolutely ridiculous with a bubblegum pink cap on his head, but he seems to be enjoying himself as he watches Jack’s internal monologue.

“Jack! I want these!” Flee calls, and Jack ducks his head down and weaves through a couple displays to get to where he heard her voice coming from. He hopes the boy at the counter didn’t mind him staring, or, even better, didn’t catch him staring, but he forces it all to the back of his mind.

“Are you sure? The lime-kind is mixed in, and you don’t like the lime-kind,” Jack points out, gesturing at the colorful taffy chews that Flee is eagerly pointing at. She bounces on the balls of her feet in anticipation, and is unperturbed by Jack’s proposed argument.

“You can just eat them! Please~” she pleads, turning towards him and clasping her hands together. She sticks out her bottom lip and looks up at him, and Jack sighs.

“I’ll get them for you,” he says, before being cut off by Flee’s shouts of joy. “But!” he says, holding up a finger and causing Flee to grow still once more, “I’ll buy you them when we come back tomorrow. I don’t have money,” he admits, and Flee groans.

“But Jack!”

“But Flee!” Jack mimicks, causing the little girl to sour more. “This was supposed to be a walk, not a shopping spree,” he says, laughing a little. “Let’s just be good until tomorrow, and I’ll buy you… say, a bag full of these taffies, okay?” he proposes, and Flee pretends to think on it.

“Deal!” she says, putting her foot down officially and standing a little bit taller. Jack ruffles her hair and leads her out of the shop.

“Wait!” the same voice calls out as before, and as they turn around, they see the boy at the counter smiling at them. There’s a second of nothing before the boy moves, throwing something at Jack. He has the sense to catch it, and he looks confusedly at the counter boy. “Just… an incentive. Have a nice day!” he says kindly, waving them off.

Flee pulls his out of the shop and down the street as he stares dumbfounded at the palm of his hand; in it, there was a small bag with two sea-salt taffies in it, the exact kind Flee was begging for moments before.

He’s confused and most certainly smitten by this odd boy behind the counter of a candy shop, but at this moment, Jack couldn’t stop thinking about how the corners of his eyes crinkled when he smiled at him.

* * *

“Hiccup?” someone asks sweetly, and the auburn-haired boy turns around to see his boss standing behind him. She’s a little lady, the top of her head just barely reaching his shoulder, but there was something about her that made him cringe; maybe it was all the inappropriate things she ends up blurting out whenever she has the chance. “What was that?” she asked, putting her hands on her hips and giving him an expectant look.

“Uhm,” Hiccup said, rubbing the back of his neck. “Would you possibly believe me if I said I did that to promote the Candy Palooza?” he asked uncertainly, totally not cringing as his boss takes a step towards him, her short multi-colored curls bouncing as she did so.

“No,” she said curtly, squinting at him skeptically, “but I’ll let it pass,” she adds as she leans back and smiles at him. “I know when someone has a crush! I won’t get in the way of that, at least!”

“I… I do not have a crush!” Hiccup refutes, crossing his arms over his chest and sending a pout towards his boss.

“Sweetheart, don’t be absurd. You don’t give free candies to someone you don’t want to see again,” she said innocently, returning his pout with one a bit more condescending.

“I was helping business by being courteous!” Hiccup squawks, sounding more and more indignant with each word he speaks. “And his little sister looked really sad, so I thought that might have cheered her up…”

“You’re in deep when you care for their siblings,” she says wistfully, shaking her head and clicking her tongue.

“M-Ms. Ericka!” Hiccup stutters, hoping she would stop. His cheeks were practically burning, and all he wanted to do was curl up into the nearest corner and die of embarrassment right then and there. Instead of getting her to give up, she snickers at his expense.

“Go take your break. You look like a tomato,” she says, patting him on the shoulder before scooting around him to stand behind the cash register. Hiccup hangs his head, nods, and then shuffles his way to the back-room-turned-employee-lounge.

The deep purple room smells like moth balls, popcorn and a little bit like gummy bears when you first open a package of them (Hiccup’s gotten good at identifying candy smells, even the ones where he thought they didn’t have a scent in the first place).  There’s a deep green couch in the corner, and he immediately walks over to it and collapses.

It was embarrassing when you run into a fairly attractive customer while you’re working, but it was even worse since they was with a sibling. Even more devastating than this was the embarrassment that comes from your boss witnessing your borderline-does-that-even-count-as-flirting, and points you out because of it.

He has this overwhelming feeling that he’s going to be dreading working here a lot more now.

* * *

Jack rushes back to the eccentric candy store the moment Flee is taking a nap, money stashed into his back pocket. Those taffies were absolutely amazing, and as much as he wanted to say that Flee had good taste, what he really wanted to know is ‘how the hell are these things so good?’

He totally didn’t think they were amazing because the cute cashier boy gave them to him for free.

He practically throws the door to the candy shop, the bell tinkling overhead. The trill almost sounds ridiculous now, because the circumstances of his second trip is almost totally the opposite as the first one.

“Auntie Ericka’s Candy Palooza” looks exactly the same; displays and walls bright, streamers intact, music playing lightly in the background, candy by the tons. The only thing missing is-

“Hello, love!” a lady says from behind the counter, not young but definitely not old, either. Short, multicolored curly hair frames her face, and bedazzled glasses rest on the bridge of her nose. She smiles at Jack, almost knowingly. “Looking for something specific?” she asks, putting her head in one of her hands as she leans over the counter towards him.

“Uh… sort of?” Jack concedes, a little taken-aback by the lady. He walk up to the counter, trying and failing to not look for the auburn-haired boy that was here yesterday… and then he feels stupid, because in his desperation to see him again, he completely forgot that he might not be working today. “I came in yesterday with my sister and we tried some of these… taffies…” he said, losing his nerve. “You know what? I’ll just come back some other time-!”

“Oh, you’re _that_ guy!” the lady says, standing up straight and smiling wider at him. “My employee yesterday could NOT stop talking about you! You’re the one he gave those free taffies to, am I right?” she asks, sounding way to excited, almost like this was the biggest gossip she’s heard all year.

“Uh, yeah,” Jack said, rubbing his hand through his hair. “I was wondering if you guys had any more, my sister liked them a lot.”

“Well, I’m glad to hear it! I made them myself, along with help from my employee. I’ll have to see if we have any more!” she says, turning around and walking to what he assumed was the back of the candy shop. “Feel free to look around for something else!” she called to him, and Jack nodded.

So the cute guy helped make the taffies? That was new. Jack wandered around, scanning the shelves for anything of interest. He realized exactly why Flee was enamored by all this stuff; it was like the moment you tore your eyes away from something, another thing caught your attention immediately. He was holding a small stuffed animal when the lady walked out again.

“So sorry for the wait, sweetie!” she apologizes.

“It’s alright,” Jack says, walking back to the counter with the stuffed animal still in his hands. “You have a lot of interesting stuff,” he adds, smiling brightly.

“Thank you!” she says, laughing to herself. “Oh, right, bad news: we don’t have any more of those taffies.”

“That’s okay, I was just wondering-”

“But, I see Hiccup later on tonight, so come back tomorrow and I’m sure we’ll have some!” she says cheerfully, smiling so hard her eyes almost disappear.

“Hiccup?” Jack asks.

“My employee,” the lady says off-handishly, forgetting that the other boy didn’t know his name.

“Oh… right,” Jack said, nodding. ‘ _His name is Hiccup? What kind of name is that? It fits him, oddly, but how does someone come up with something like that?!_ ’

“I’ll reserve a bag for you, but you have to promise to stop by tomorrow to pick them up!” she says sternly, pointing a finger at him and shaking it for emphasis.

“Alright, alright!” Jack laughs, putting his hands up and taking a step back. “Do you need my name and number, or something?”

“That would be lovely!” she says, pulling out a bright pink, heart-shaped sticky note and a pen. She slides it across the counter, and Jack dutifully writes down the information.

“Thank you so much for doing this,” Jack says as he smiles and hands her the sticky note.

“It’s no issue, dear,” she replies nonchalantly, “anything for the happiness of my customers!” She takes a look at the sticky note, then folds it up and puts it in her back pocket. “Tomorrow, okay?” she asks, giving Jack a look.

“Right, uh…” he says, about to say her name when he realizes that he doesn’t know it.

“I’m Ericka, but most everyone calls me Auntie Ericka,” she says politely, moving a curl out of her face.

“Well, thank you, Auntie Ericka,” Jack says politely, “and tomorrow, for sure!” he declares as he walks out.

Well, that whole exchange definitely wasn’t what he was expecting. He didn’t even get the taffies! But… somehow he got something a lot more valuable.

“Hiccup…” he said under his breath, feeling a little bit stupid for sighing his name like that. He got his name, and even though it was a little bizarre, it fit him perfectly. If he wasn’t able to see him again, at least he can say ‘ _I liked a guy named Hiccup, once_ ’ instead of ‘ _I liked a guy who I barely met, once_.’

Besides, he would get the taffies tomorrow, and everyone will be happy.

* * *

“Ericka, why did you call me in?” Hiccup sighed warily, walking through the door and looking for his boss. Instead, his arm was caught by something, and he was abruptly turned around and directed back outside of the shop. “Huh? Ericka?”

“It’s bingo night! You’re coming with me!” Ericka says, keeping a firm grip on his arm as she continued to walk down the street.

“You said you needed my help!” Hiccup argues indignantly, trying to get his arm free of her grip. The act was futile in itself, because her vice-like grip only tightened and made it impossible to escape.

“Well, it’s more like you need my help,” Ericka says, a little bounce in her step.

“What are you talking about?” Hiccup asks. He’s no longer trying to muscle his way out of her grip, but he’s not happy about being dragged to… _bingo night_.

“I’ll explain later,” she says, brushing off what seemed to be like an important conversation.

Hiccup wonders about what she’s talking about for the rest of the walk. He hopes, prays, and begs to any higher being who would listen that it wasn’t anything about the guy yesterday. Sure, he was cute- okay, no, take that back, he was hot; his pale skin and bizarrely white hair fit his pure white smile and blue eyes. Hiccup could say he had a crush on him, but he chooses not to; that’s embarrassing, liking someone you’ve only seen once.

But then, knowing his boss, there was no way this _wasn’t_ about him.

They get to the rec center a couple minutes later, and Ericka buys two bingo cards, one for the each of them, and sits them at the back of the crowd. The teller opens up the bingo game a couple moments later, picking out a ball randomly and calling out, “O-12!”

“So,” Ericka says, drawing out the syllable longer than necessary as she scans her card. “I saw your little crush today,” she says after a nervous second, and she huffs afterwards, unable to find O-12.

“He’s not my crush,” Hiccup hisses under his breath, his words not having the bite they were supposed to have as he places a marker on his own card.

“Yes, he is, dear,” Ericka confirms, giving him a small smile. “You can’t lie to me.”

“What happened?” Hiccup asks after a moment, his curiosity getting the best of him.

“He asked about the taffies you gave him. He wanted more for his sister,” Ericka answers.

“Oh…”

“I told him that we were fresh out and that you helped me make them,” she goes on saying, acting as if she was paying careful attention to the bingo caller, when, in fact, she missed the next couple numbers. “He perked up when I mentioned you.”

“What?”

“I told him to come back tomorrow. Oh, and his name is Jack and I got his number for you,” she says, digging into her back pocket and handing him the pink sticky note.

“E-Ericka! What the heck?” Hiccup screeches. A couple elderly people from in front of them turn around and give him a glare, but he’s too mortified at the implications of the pink sticky note to care. “Why would you do that?”

“Because you obviously like him,” she answers smoothly.

“T-that’s not the point!” Hiccup stutters, shoving the sticky note way,

“Then what is the point, Hiccup?” Ericka demands, her voice hushed, but the command was still there. Hiccup gulps, suddenly uneasy, or at least more aware of his unease than before.

“The point is that, even if I like him, I’m not going to take advantage of confidential information that he gave to you just because I like him!” Hiccup says, his voice equally hushed as hers. “And besides, he probably doesn’t like me back, anyways. AND we’ve only met once.”

“You know, a relationship is built on getting to know someone, and figuring out what you like about them,” Ericka says wisely. “And communication is a great way to know someone.”

“Yes, but-”

“BINGO! BINGO!” A lady two rows ahead screeches, holding up her card victoriously and laughing like she was already crazy.

“I’m not saying to get at him right away. I’m just saying, if you like someone, you should show a little interest,” Ericka says, clearing her markers off her card and pushing the sticky note back towards Hiccup.

“Fine…” Hiccup mumbles, taking the sticky note and putting it into his own pocket. “But if he thinks I’m weird, then I’m demanding a raise.”

“Sweetie, if he thinks you’re weird, then I’ll close the Candy Palooza for good!” Ericka laughs, gripping his shoulder so she doesn’t fall out of her chair.

They don’t talk about Jack for the rest of the night, but what Ericka’s says lingers in the back of his mind.

* * *

To: Jack

From: ???

- _Hey this is Hiccup from the candy store. Just letting you know that the taffies are ready! See you tomorrow, hopefully!_

* * *

 

The message was unexpected, but he ends up dragging Flee to the candy store right after lunch, almost as excited as she was when they first found it.

The bell trills from above, and Flee darts into the shop again, even though what the both of them was looking for was behind the counter.

Hiccup stood there, the stupid pink hat on his head again, and smile on his face.

“Hey, welcome back!” he said cheerfully, leaning over the counter much like Ericka did the day before.

“Like I could stay away from this place,” Jack retorts, walking up to the counter. “It’s practically magnetic.” Hiccup laughs at him, almost ironically, hanging his head down so his hair falls and hides his face.

“You’re telling me,” Hiccup says. “I found the Candy Palooza when I was lost on my way home. When I walked out, I had directions and a job.” He laughed at his own story, and Jack had to join in. “But, anyways, you probably want these, right?” Hiccup says, stooping down and pulling out a bag filled with sea-salt taffies. 

“Yeah!” Jack says, smiling and pulling out his wallet. “How much?”

“Ten’s fine,” Hiccup replies, shrugging.

“How much is it?” Jack asks, looking up at him seriously.

“Well, it should be 20, but since it’s for your sister-” Hiccup says, before being cut off.

“Are you sure you’re giving me a discount because it’s for my sister?” Jack says slyly, giving him a look. Hiccup blushes, his cheeks going deep red and his green eyes going wide. Jack panics. “Ah, sorry, I didn’t mean that!”

“You have a point, though,” Hiccup mumbles.

“Jaaaaaack, can I get a jawbreaker?” Flee asks, pulling on his sleeve.

“I’m getting those taffies you liked, remember?” Jack says, ruffling her hair. She squeaks, ducking out from under his fingers and covering the top of her head with her hands. Jack laughs at her, before pulling out a ten dollar bill from his wallet and handing it to Hiccup. “I guess I’ll have to make it up to you somehow,” he says as Hiccup passes him the taffies. Hiccup coughs, his hat nearly falling off his head.

“Are you okay?” Flee asks innocently, looking at Hiccup with curiosity.

“Fine…” Hiccup says, smiling at the girl before turning her attention to her brother. “There’s this new movie coming out next week, you know, if you want to make it up to me still,” he says meekly, his cheeks still tinged red. Jack grins.

“Sounds good!” Jack says, trying and failing to keep the excitement out of his voice. “So, I’ll text you later!”

“Alright!” Hiccup says, smiling back.

Jack and Flee leave the Candy Palooza, but not before Flee giggles and squeaks, “Oooooh, Jaaaack! You got a boyfriend!!”

**Author's Note:**

> okay but this was really fun to write!! i hope you liked it!!


End file.
